1. Technical Field
This invention relates to data backup in computer systems, and more specifically to a method of transferring data across a network.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
Networked computer systems with interconnected nodes are an increasingly popular alternative computer architecture to more traditional computer architectures. A networked system may be a collection of individual computers known as nodes that are interconnected to provide a single computing system. FIG. 1 is an illustration of the layers of a node in a typical network environment. Each system node 10 in a networked computing environment includes a form of a physical storage device for storing data and generally may include multiple storage devices 12, 14. Traditionally, the storage devices will be in the form of a disk or tape. The storage devices 12, 14 are logically grouped into a volume 26 through the use of plexes 16 and 18. The volume 26 and plexes 16 and 18 are all maintained within a volume manager 28. The system 10 also has a network device 22 for communicating over the network with other nodes in the system. Accordingly, each node in the network includes physical storage devices for storing node data, plexes for communicating data in the storage devices to a volume which logically maps the data, and a network device for communicating across the network with other nodes in the system.
In a typical computer network environment, each node includes several layers in a program stack. A traditional model of a network environment for a two node system is shown in FIG. 2. Each node 110 and 130 has a physical devices layer 112, 132, respectively, where data storage devices 114, 116 and 134, 136, and network adapters 126, 146 are located. In addition to the physical devices layer 112, 132, each node includes a kernel layer 115, 135 and a user layer 120, 140, respectively. The user layer 120, 140 is the area where application programs 122, 142 are accessed. The kernel layer 115, 135 contains a volume manager layer 128, 148. The volume manager layer 128, 148 manages the flow of data in the storage devices to and from the application program 122, 142 in the user layer 120, 140, respectively. Accordingly, the program stack includes three primary layers for operating each node in the network.
The process of backing up data in a traditional two node network involves the following steps:
1. Data is copied from the physical devices layer 112 to the volume manager layer 128 of the kernel layer 115 of the source node 110;
2. Next, the data is copied from the volume manager layer 128 to the application program 122 in the user layer 120;
3. Data is then copied from the application program 122 in the user layer 120 through the kernel layer 115 to a network device 126;
4. The data is then copied from the network device 126 of the source node 110 across a communication pipe 150 to a network device 146 of the target node 130;
5. The data is then copied from the network device 146 through the kernel layer 135 to the application program 142 of the user layer 140;
6. Next, the data is copied from the application program 142 in the user layer 140 to the volume manager layer 148 in the kernel layer 135; and
7. Finally, the data is copied from the volume manager layer 148 of the kernel layer 135 of the target node 130 to the physical layer 132.
Accordingly, the traditional data backup method requires communication of the data through multiple layers of the program stack, including the user layer.
The disadvantage of this procedure is that there are multiple copies of data transferred from the kernel to the user layer and from the user layer to the kernel layer. This conventional method of backing up data on a storage device connected to some other machine on the network requires a series of copying, and is therefore inefficient due to the multiple copies of data involved. Accordingly, there is a need for an efficient method of backing up data on a computer system which is one of multiple nodes in a network, wherein multiple copies of the data need not be processed through the user layer of the nodes in the system.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method of efficiently backing up and restoring data of a networked computer system. It is a further object of the invention to provide a storage device manager for use in networked computer systems for allowing internode data transfer through a kernel layer of the operating system.
A first aspect of the invention is a method for staring data from a network on a node. A first plex is connected to a network device, and a second plex is connected to a data storage device. Both plexes are grouping into a logical volume. Data is received from the network by the first plex and stored on the storage device by the second plex. The data is directly communicated from a kernel layer of a source node to a kernel layer of a target node.
A second aspect of the invention is a networked computer system. Each node in the system includes a data storage device, and first and second plexes. The first plex is connected to a network device and the second plex is connected to the data storage device. A volume is connected to both the first and second plexes adapted to directly communicate data from a kernel layer of a source node to a kernel layer of a target node.
A third aspect of the invention is an article comprising a computer-readable signal bearing medium with means for communicating to a networked computer system. The article includes two plexes. A first plex is connected to the communication means end the second plex is connected to a data storage device. Both the first and second plexes are connected to the volume. The article also includes means in the medium for managing a direct transfer of data from a kernel layer of a source node to a kernel layer of a target node.
Other features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.